Daughter's student bank ac declined due to MY DEBTS?

rsr1_2

We've checked all the student bank accounts, considered what darling daughter will need by way of overdraft and accessibility to branch. And then she was DECLINED by Santander. The bank advisor said it was connected to the credit rating of the residence and it is being appealed, should find out tomorrow if we have any luck with that.

Needless to say I was shocked and dismayed that my financial problems have impacted on her. I do have a terrible credit rating and history. Countless defaults in credit cards, a CCJ on an old credit card has a charging order on the house dating 1997, and right now, I have had a bankruptcy petition served on me by HMRC for outstanding tax returns. (I have been suffering depression for a number of years, and court and tax are allowing me time to get my affairs in order.) I am guessing that it might be this current financial problem that has caused the adverse credit rating based on the residence. I did get a letter a few weeks ago from I think Land registry saying there is a notice on this address that bankruptcy is being served on this property.

My question is - what bank would do a credit search that does NOT involve a search on the property address, or would not use the residence as part of their credit scoring for my daughter? I know that she should not be applying to all and sundry banks as this will affect her credit rating adversely, so I'm trying to find out which are the more likely banks to accept her (so much for all that careful research, ha!).

I'm also thinking that the only other alternative is that she just uses her current account for now, and she would have to notify the bank of a change of address to her aunt's, wait a bit and then apply later for a student account once the change of address is set up.

My feeling is that she needs to get into the system so that she can learn to use the system and build her credit rating. Any advice here would be most gratefully received.

melancholly

some banks are a lot more picky about giving out student accounts than others.... it's worth asking the question in the special threads on here for each student account (if the search picks them up - they've dropped off the front page!). i know halifax are well known for rejecting people and not giving the advertised overdrafts to a lot of students. i'd say one of the big ones like HSBC or natwest might be worth a try instead. the other option is to wait until she starts at uni and then speaking to a member of staff in a student branch. they tend to know a lot more about student accounts than anyone you can get on the phone. then she can test the water without making an application.

Voyager2002

Is she over 18? I understood that credit scores had to be calculated on the basis of the person, rather than the address, so check whether the record includes any financial association between her and you.

Anyway, Santander is a dreadful bank so in some ways she has had a lucky escape.

SuperHan

I'd recommend Natwest. They do have a good student account (or did when I started uni 3 years ago anyway) and when I applied for my overdraft they just said OK. I imagine they did some sort of a check, but I walked in to branch, asked for my overdraft and the lady literally said OK immediately.

Worth a try anyway! Or if your daughter is moving to uni you could apply for an account under her term time address?

rsr1_2

Thanks for the swift replies. She is 19, so I wonder is that is why the "residence' thing showed up. I was rather hoping to avoid NatWest, they treated me very badly when I banked with them, but I guess I should not let my prejudice get in the way! Any ideas how I would go about finding out whether her financial record is linked to me?

Voyager2002

rsr1 wrote: »

Thanks for the swift replies. She is 19, so I wonder is that is why the "residence' thing showed up. I was rather hoping to avoid NatWest, they treated me very badly when I banked with them, but I guess I should not let my prejudice get in the way! Any ideas how I would go about finding out whether her financial record is linked to me?

She could apply to the main credit reference agencies (Experian, Equifax) for a free trial of their service. Do remind her to cancel immediately afterwards, or they start charging each month. (Details are elsewhere on the MSE site.) The reports will show if any financial products are recorded as being shared with you.

I agree that your prejudice should not be relevant: anyway, individual managers have probably moved on to a different bank by now.

chiska

If you try Natwest please post back here and let us know as this very same thing happened to my daughter with Natwest just last week. When I queried this he said it could be the address and I pointed out that I thought it was illegal to use the address or other occupants to credit score. The man said that it is done on averages and that if one person in the household has bad credit with the same name then the law of averages says the person applying for credit is likely to be the same. I was speechless for a while and then he said sometimes it is if a person has same surname or they have any joint financial links. Now the joint financial links I can understand, but my daughter has a different surname to me and there are no joint financial links. She has applied for her credit file to see what that says, but I was in shock for days that she can be penalised for my financial history in this was I thought it was done on the individual and from what I have read both on Natwest's own site and on the credit reference site they do not and cannot judge on another person or the address, yet that is exactly what Natwest did.
I was and still am so upset for my daughter I am just glad I was with her when she went to open the account. Does anyone know how this may impact her in the future?
Many Thanks

Voyager2002

chiska wrote: »

If you try Natwest please post back here and let us know as this very same thing happened to my daughter with Natwest just last week. When I queried this he said it could be the address and I pointed out that I thought it was illegal to use the address or other occupants to credit score. The man said that it is done on averages and that if one person in the household has bad credit with the same name then the law of averages says the person applying for credit is likely to be the same. I was speechless for a while and then he said sometimes it is if a person has same surname or they have any joint financial links. Now the joint financial links I can understand, but my daughter has a different surname to me and there are no joint financial links. She has applied for her credit file to see what that says, but I was in shock for days that she can be penalised for my financial history in this was I thought it was done on the individual and from what I have read both on Natwest's own site and on the credit reference site they do not and cannot judge on another person or the address, yet that is exactly what Natwest did.
I was and still am so upset for my daughter I am just glad I was with her when she went to open the account. Does anyone know how this may impact her in the future?
Many Thanks

I think you have grounds for complaint against NatWest, or rather against the particular person you spoke with. For a start, have a good look at your daughter's credit file in case there turn out to be financial links. Otherwise, write exactly what you wrote here to NatWest's complaints department, and see what they say. And do let us know how you get on.

As for impact on your daughter's future: if there is nothing bad on her credit record, there will be no long-term consequences

Aelius

I would be wary of Natwest as they were in the new this morning as the worst bank for customer complaints. HSBC: great when you are working, suck at student accounts. RBS: great with student accounts, suck when you're working.

Helix

Aelius wrote: »

I would be wary of Natwest as they were in the new this morning as the worst bank for customer complaints. HSBC: great when you are working, suck at student accounts. RBS: great with student accounts, suck when you're working.

Natwest are owned by RBS, so not sure how you can advise against Natwest but recommend RBS

grizzly1911

My son has had a Santander Bank Account for c.18months through which part time wages were paid whilst at school.

He has no other debts or accounts apart fro a building society for savings.

We tried/are trying to upgrade this to a Student Account.

This has failed and we have been told it was due to "underwriting" and was appealed. This failed on appeal and it was suggested it was due to credit history. the staff concerned on the front line have been first rate and are as stumped as us.

We knew the history was not the case.

We have done a Credit Check which is totally clear, and his score is near perfect, in so far as there is absolutely no adverse info logged against him or the property.

We have approached Santander and they are looking at it once more. They have been really apologetic. The feeling now is that it is actually something in their software parameters that may be at fault.

So it may not be your credit rating at all.

I understood that if you were 18 and that you were not linked in anyway to any default history. e.g. joint account debts, then that should be treated as clean providing all the other details stacked up such as voters roll, length in residence and such like.

If this fails then it is off to the COOP but he really doesn't want the O/D temptation that may bring.